2/19/2006: Shani, Apolo, and Bode
These guys gave us some real good TV Saturday night. I'm on a first name basis with all of them.
Shani Davis made history by being the first black athlete to win an individual winter gold medal when he won the 1,000 meter speed skate. Never mind the other US speed skaters' sour grapes that they lost the team relay event because Shani chose not to skate in it - why should he have to? And never mind that half the media has OD'd on being politically correct to the point of saying he's the first African-American to win a gold - that's technically correct too, but this accomplishment is bigger than that. It's global. It's amazing that no other black athlete has taken an individual winter gold medal until now, the 20th winter Olympics, but Shani did it tonight, and I cheered for him.
He was at the center of a lot of controvery this week because of that relay thing.. Chad Hedrick even snapped at reporters who kept asking him about Shani, "I'm the one with a gold medal - why do we have to keep talking about him?" You can't blame Shani for not seeing Chad as a "teammate" when he's making cracks like that. Chad and the other guys should have just skated faster if they wanted to win the relay so much.
Shani said he didn't do the relay because he wanted to focus on his individual events, and it paid off tonight. Not bad for a kid who grew up on Chicago's South Side and might have ended up running with gangs instead of flying on skates. Way to go Shani!
His win was capped off nicely when NBC sent an apparent rookie reporter (Melissa Stark, I think) to ask the usual stupid questions after he won, like "How did it feel finishing first?" When he wasn't as bubbly and gushy as some, she asked him "Are you mad?" sending the TV audience into hysterics. I bet her boyfriend or husband was cringing.. she probably asks him that at least once a day. After Shani said no he's not mad, he's just speechless, she turned to the camera and made a really dopey "ewww" type face. It was priceless.
On the short track, Apolo Ohno came back from his not-so-great skates earlier in the week and made it to the finals for the 1,000 meter race. Short track speed skating is intense: those guys are flying and they're often inches away from each other, nudging and taking advantage of mere inches to attempt passing. Some countries' skaters act as unofficial teams, with one of them assigned to take care of threats like Apolo while the other gets the win.
Apolo was in the third spot for most of the race, behind Koreans Ahn Hyun-Soo and Lee Ho-Suk. He missed his chance to pass - it's a relatively short race for short track - and finished third. But he doesn't mind so much: added to his gold and silver from Salt Lake City, tonight's bronze nicely rounds out his collection of Olympics medals. And he's got more events still to come in Torino. Way to go Apolo!
Meanwhile Bode Miller didn't win yet another event today but that's ok. After another round of controversy over snow, visibility and second chances for some, Bode went down the hill and had a near-crash with a gate. I didn't like seeing him out of the race but the recovery he made was amazing. He stayed upright even while one foot & ski went out to the side, then behind him, and practically over his head.. it was as impressive as if he'd won the race! It looked like he was going for a new sport altogether: Figure Skiing. Way to go Bode! 
